The number of Internet content providers continues to grow rapidly. The freedom to access content on the Internet brings many benefits, but also many issues. This freedom has emboldened some content providers to pervasively push unsolicited content to end users by way of pop-up windows containing advertisements and at times sexually explicit content. In other circumstances some content providers have injected spyware applications which can cause havoc with computing systems as well as draw consumers to purchase unwanted applications to rid themselves of these hidden applications.
These activities have led to the creation of software and hardware companies that produce pop-up blockers, content screening applications, URL blockers, applications that detect and eliminate spyware, and so on. Although helpful, these solutions have had limited success.
A need therefore arises for a method and apparatus that manages Internet content.